Colorado Rockies top prospect Zac Veen recognized for 2021 season

The Colorado Rockies announced on Monday that their no. 1 prospect, outfielder Zac Veen, was named the 2021 recipient of the Doug Million Minor League Player of the Year Award. Additionally, the Rockies announced that Low-A Fresno Pitching Coach Mark Brewer is the winner of the P.J. Carey Player Development Award for Rockies minor league coaches.

Colorado Rockies prospect Zac Veen was recognized for his 2021 season

Zac Veen, 20, was drafted by the Colorado Rockies with the ninth overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft. Since there was no minor league season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Veen made his professional debut with the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies in the 2021 season and with the Grizzlies, he flourished.

Veen played in 106 games and he hit .301/.399/.501 with 15 homers, 75 RBI, 27 doubles, and 36 stolen bases. He primarily played right field but he also played 26 games in left field as well.

The Rockies, obviously, recognized Veen for his talent but talent evaluators have recognized Veen’s development as well.

For example, entering the 2021 season, Veen was ranked as the no. 86 overall prospect in the entire sport by Baseball America. Now, he is ranked as the no. 22 overall prospect in the sport entering 2022. Baseball Prospectus also moved his ranking from no. 49 to no. 25 entering 2022.

MLB.com, which has yet to release its rankings entering the 2022 season, ranked Veen (on a scouting scale of 20-80) as so in the 2021 season.

• Hit: 60
• Power: 55
• Run: 50
• Arm: 55
• Field: 55
• Overall: 55

With his 2021 season, he will likely be ranked even higher, especially in his weakest attribute (running). After all, he did have 36 stolen bases.

As for the namesake of the award, Doug Million was the Rockies first round draft pick (seventh overall) in the 1994 draft. He was drafted as a high schooler and he had made it up Double-A by 1997. Shortly after the story ended, Million tragically died of an asthma attack at the age of 21.

Back in January, we looked at the story of Doug Million and the Rockies’ 1994 draft class in more depth.

In 2022, Veen will likely spend most of his season in High-A Spokane and if he keeps playing like he did in 2021, he could, perhaps, even see time in Double-A Hartford by the end of the season.